Wench

From 1852 to 1855, Tawawa Resort in Xenia, Ohio was a popular vacation spot for Southern slave owners. Slave owners were able to vacation at this resort with their slave "mistresses." Dolen Perkins-Valdez's debut novel, Wench, imagines the lives of four slave women who accompany their masters to this resort over the course of several summers. Rennie and Mawu's masters are brutal and unrelenting, viewing these women as nothing more than property. Sweet and Lizzie's masters treat them with a little more humanity, and Lizzie is treated almost like Drayle's wife. She is the mother of his children and shares a room with him in the main house. But none of the women have any choice or control over their lives. The descriptions of the conditions under which the slave women were forced to live are so vivid and gut-wrenching. Their fear and despair is palpable.The women are well-developed, strong, characters with unique voices. The novel starts off a little slow, but as you get to know each of the women, their stories draw you in. This was a good read from a first-time novelist.